178 Chapter V Origin of the Rumanians 1. Linguistic Data Neo-Latin languages are the outgrowth of homogenous or nearly uniform, Latin which was spoken in the Roman Empire. The following illustrates the chronological development of the Rumanian language: 1st-2nd to 3rd-4th- centuries Latin spoken in the period of the empire 4th to 6th century Eastern Latin 7th to 11th century Proto- or Common Rumanian 12th to 15th century Old Rumanian 16th to 20th century Rumanian The chronology is, naturally, approximate and characterized by differences of opinion. For instance A. Rosetti tends to place Eastern Latin, i.e., the development of a specific variety of Latin spoken in Italy, Dalmatia, and the Danube Region, in the mid-3rd century. There is no consensus on terminology either. The period of Eastern Latin is, considering the entirety of the Romance languages, the Proto- Romance period. In Hungarian, that becomes confusing, because ´proto-román´ may signify both ´Proto-Romance´ and ´Proto- Rumanian´. To circumvent this ambiguity, we will use the designation ´Romanica´ (Romance) instead of ´Neolatin´. 179 Protoromance, the basis of the vowel system of the Neo-Latin languages, has a vowel-system which differs from the Latin of the Roman Empire, as follows: latin ã â ç î ô û 1 2 1 preromanica a ê e i o o ø u 1 1 e o What we see here is that instead of the contrast between long and short vowels in Latin, in Protoromance, the open (ê, o 2,) and closed (e1, o1.) vowels are opposing each other. These changes penetrate Eastern Latin's Eastern Zone; in Rumanian ô and do not merge. Example: gla ´throte´, Dr. (this abbreviation refers to Danubian Rumanian and not Daco-Rumanian or Northern-Rumanian) Ar., Mr. gurã, Istr. gurê, but Ital. gola, Sp., Port. gola. The adopted words - from Latin to Albanian also reflect this format: Lat. frca=villa, Dr. furcã, Alb. furkë, but Ital. forca, etc. In this particular case the Dalmatian language presents a dual profile. Here, the differentation between ô and as in Rumanian - appears only in the original closed syllable. Lat. bcca 'face' Dr. bucã, Dalm. buka, but Ital. bocca, etc. The relationship of this variable system to Latin is as follows: latin ã â ì ç î î ô ô û preromanica a ê e 1 á i o u e 1 180 Naturally, there are exceptions to the rule: Lat. autmnus - fall; Dr. Ar. Mr. toamnâ, Istr. tomnê. Historically, this means that the changes in Latin of the 2nd and 3rd centuries have begun to affect that Latin which subsequently became the precursor of Rumanian. 1 1 The change , ç > e preceded the ô, > o changes; the former dates back to the 3rd century, the latter to the 4th. In this respect, it is noteworthy that the Latin loanwords in the Albanian language show the same changes as does Rumanian. However, the Rumanian language contains all the changes which occurred in Latin during the 4th-6th centuries, while, for example, in Dalmatian, - k - remains, if followed by a long - e -. (Lat, cçna - ´dinner, feast´; Dr. cinã, Dalm. kaina; Rum. c + e, i = ts). None of this means that Protoromance on the basis of Rumanian did not develop from the Latin spoken in the Empire. J. Herman has provided an explanation of this phenomenon: 1 the ô, > o change did not spread Eastward beyond the Western border of Moesia Superior; there are no data indicating this change in the region East of a straight line drawn from Singidunum (Belgrade) towards the south. This shows that the ancestors of the Rumanians and the Albanians must have been living east of this line in the 4th (and 5th-6th) centuries. In Rumanian, the following phenomena originate from the changes that occurred in the 2nd and 3rd centuries: > e1: Lat. magister > maester >Dr. mãiestru 'master'; v> b: Lat. alveus > albeus >Dr. albie 'trough'; - ti + vowel: t becomes affricative: Lat. tertium> tersiu, 'third', Dr. (an) þãrþ "2 years back"; - tl- > cl: Lat. vetulus > veclus 'old' > Dr. vechi; 181 -pt- > t: Lat. septembris > setembre 'September', cf. Lat. baptizare 'baptize' > Dr. boteza; - Drop of -r, -s, and -t at words end: Lat. frater 'brother', Dr. frate Sound changes by assimilation: e > a: Lat. passer(e) passar 'sparrow, bird' > Dr. pasãre; i > a: silvaticus > salvaticus, 'wild' > Dr. sãlbatic; o > e dissimilation: rotundus > retundus 'round' > old Dr. rãtund; v - disappears between vowels: Lat. avunculus > aunculo 'uncle' > Dr. unchi. In addition to these phonetic changes, also changes in morphology appeared: neutral nouns became masculine, in the 3rd declination the substitution of the nominative singular by the root of the declined forms, connecting adverbs with prepositions etc. These changes of the 2nd and 3rd centuries in the Latin on which Rumanian is based are identical with the changes in the Latin from which the other Romance languages developed. The changes which occurred in 4th-6th centuries in Protoromance are more numerous: The short, stressed Latin ì becomes a diphthong. This alteration consistently appears in Rumanian, Dalmatian and certain Rhetoroman dialects; in Spanish, Italian and French, only in open syllables. This is basically not the case in Provancale, Sardinian, Catalan and Portuguese. Lat. petra 'stone', Dr. piatrã (< pieatrã < pietra), Dalm. pitra, Ital. pietra, Engad. peidra, Friaul piere, Fr. pierre, Prov. peira, Cat. pedra, Sp. piedra, Port. pedra. 182 Lat. ferrum 'iron', Dr. fier, Dalm. fiar, Ital. ferro, Sard ferru. Engad. fier, Friaul fir, Fr. fer, Prov.,- Catal. ferre, Sp. hierro, Port. ferro. The assibilation of di- occurred in the 5th century: Lat. radius ´ray´ Dr. razã, Dalm. ruoz 'thunder', Italian raggio, Sard rayu, Engadin raz, Friaul rai (but raza ´hand of the watch´), O.Fr. rai, Sp rayo etc. Preceding stressed o, u, in Rumanian there is no - z - but - ð -, just as -ti- changes to - è - in this situation. The uniform development of Protoromance is characterized by the phonetic formation of ce, ci (ke, ki). The palatalization of ki + vowel begins in the 2nd and 3rd centuries; it is beginning to be interchanged with the ti + vowel-group (which palatalized in the same manner). Palatalization of ke was still not generalized by the 5th century. P. Skok's assumption that the palatalization of k and g in the development of Rumanian would have occurred in the 7th-8th centuries deserves consideration in view of Albanian and Dalmatian usage. Lat. civitas "city", Dr. cetate, Dalm. èituot, Italian città, Engad. èited, Fr. cité, Prov., Catalan ciutat, Sp. ciudad, Port. cidade, Alb. qytet. Lat. cera "wax", Dr. cerã, Dalm. kaira, Italian cera, Sard kera, Eng. èaira, Friauli sere, Fr. cire, Prov., Catal. Sp., Port. cera. Lat. crux "cross", Dr. cruce, Dalm. krauk, Italian croce, Sard ruge, Engad. kruš, Friauli kros, Fr. croix, Prov. crotz, Cat. creu, Alb. kryk. These changes are the same in Rumanian as in Italian and Western Neo-Latin languages. Rumanian parallels Rhetoromance, but is partly different from Dalmatian, and significantly so, when we look at Latin characteristics in Albanian. In Albanian we find a 183 palatalized -q - (=k’) in place of the Latin - ki - (qytet.< civitate, shoq < socius), and - ke - is replaced by the unpalatalized - k -. Latin loanwords in Albanian cannot be separated from the same derivation in the Rumanian language; this suggests an early - and short - relationship between the two (4th, 5th cent.) and that this connection must have been intensive. The modification of the tonal system is accompanied by formative changes, as well conjugated verbs which denote continuing action were defined by the application of habeo: ... episcopum ... invitatum habes "You invited the bishop" becomes (Dr.) ai invitat pe episcop'. This will be the customary usage in Neo-Latin languages but it should be noted that in Arumun and in Oltenian dialects the plusquamperfectum was retained. Use of the genitive case instead of the dative case becomes frequent: dedit nomen illorum "named them" (gave them a name), but the Rumanian language retained the singular dative case in relation to feminine substantives which belong to the 1st and 3rd declinations. Examples of the use of the genitive case instead of the dative appear in the 7th century, it must be noted however, that, on the Balkan Peninsula, this might have occurred earlier, given the Greek influence. The vocabulary also reveals new elements: (primo vere > prima vere, 'spring', Italian primavera, Dr. primãvarã). The change of meaning of Lat. hostis "enemy", became wide-spread (Dr. oaste, Old Italian oste, Engad: oast, etc. "army". This modification could have occurred only when the forces of the Roman Empire consisted of Barbarians, the former enemy; thus, not prior to the 5th century. E. Löfstedt established that substantiation of altered meaning is on record as of the 6th century. At the same time, 184 this vocabulary parallels Italian and Rhetoromance (especially Friauli). It suggests that the Latin-speaking groups of the Balkan Peninsula had close contact with Italians until at least 600 AD. Of the Rhetoromance links certain phrases stand out: the preservation of the Lat. albus "white", Dr. alb, Dalm. yualb, Engad. alf, Port. alvo. Even more so, the permanence of basilika, "church", Dr. bisericã, Dalm. basalka, Engad. baselgia, O. venetian baselega, Veltellina bazelga, "reformed church", Alb. bazilikë. During the 6th and 7th centuries this term was replaced by ecclesia (kishë in Alb.) The retention of basilika can be traced to the ecclesiastical Latin of the end of the 4th, beginning of the 5th centuries. On one hand, this portrays the chronology of the relationship of Balkan Romanism to its Western counterpart, on the other hand, it reflects upon the early separation of the ancestors of Albanians and Rumanians. We also find that the close relationship of the antecedents of the Rumanian language with Western Romanica - up to 600 - excludes the possibility of the development of the Rumanian language on former Dacian territory; there was no opportunity for this to happen.